" Were there none within nor without thy walls, 0 London, that used his neighbour without wages, and gave him no reward for his work ? that kept back the hire of the
80 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
the necessities of the poor, hringinj:^ them to such nnder-prices as hath undone both tlieni and their niakin<^ good that word, Amos viii. 4, ' They swallow up the needy, and make the poor of the land to fail !' Oh tiie heavy burdens that have been laid upon the poor by their Egyptian taskmasters ! what overreaching of the poor, and what over- rating of the poor have been within and without thy walls, 0 London! Thy poor, 0 London, did rise early and go to bed late ; they did fare hard, and lie hard, and work hard ; and yet by reason of the cruelty, oppression, and unmercifulness of many of thy wealthy citizens, they were hardly able to make any convenient sup])lies for themselves and their families. Oppression turns princes into roaring lions, and judges into evening wolves: it is an unnatural sin, it is a sin against the light of nature. No creatures do oppress them of their own kind. Look upon the birds of prey, as upon eagles, vultures, hawks, and you shall never find them preying upon their own kind. Look upon the wild beasts of the forest, as upon the lion, the tiger, the wolf, the bear, &c., and you shall find them favourable to them of their own kind ; and yet men unnaturally prey upon one another — like the fish in the sea, the great swallowing up the small. It is a sin against that great and conunon rule of equity. Mat. vii. 12, ' All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them.' Now no man in his wits would have an^.ther to wrong and oppress him in his estate, name, or conscience : and therefore he should not wrong or oppress others in their estates, names, or consciences : and therefore no wonder if God punishes this sin with flames of fire. It is thy oppressors, 0 London, that has turned thy glory into ashes.
Now this insolent oppressing of the poor is a sin that I cannot make good against the people of God that did truly fear him in that great city. It is a sin they have often bewailed and lamented before the Lord in their solemn addresses to God. Where this sin is ram- pant, where it rules as a prince upon the throne, it is a clear evidence that the fear of the Lord is not in such men's hearts : Lev. xxv. 17, ' Ye shall not opjiress one another, but thou shalt fear thy God.' Now this lies fair in the words, — viz., that such as do oppress others, they do not fear God : and such as do fear God, they will not oppress others. Amalek was a great oppressor of the poor people of God, and the Holy Ghost hath set this black brand of infamy upon him, that he feared not God, Deut. xxv. 18.^ Had Amalek feared the Lord, he would have been so fixr from oppressing the poor people of God, that he would have comforted them, and succoured them, and relieved them in the midst of their necessities, miseries, and distresses. The Jews oppressing one another is attributed to their not fearing of God, Neh. V. 9. Opi)ression is so crying a sin against the law of God, the law of grace, the law of nature, and the law of nations, that certainly it cannot be justly charged upon such as have set up God in their hearts as the great object of their fear. The word for oppression in
labourer, and that were the poor labourer's purse-bearers and cofferers, whether they would or no? that fleeced the poor to feather their own nests? Deut. xxiv. 14, 15; Exod. xxii. 22, 23; Zeph. iii. 3.
' Oppressors arc persons destitute of the fear of God ; and the want of the fear of the Lord is the spring and fountain of the worst of sins, and that against which the Lord will cowe near in judgment, Mai. iii. 5.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 81
the Hebrew is mispach, which signifies a scab, a wound, a leprosy. Now oppression is such a scab, a wound, a leprosy as is not to be found upon those that have fellowship with the Father and the Son. Oppressors may boast of their profession, and call themselves saints, or the people of God, but God accounts them worse than Scythians. Witness those dreadful woes that God has denounced against them in tl?e blessed Scriptures : Zeph. iii. 1, ' Woe to the oppressing city!' Jer. xxii. 13, ' Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteous- ness, and his chambers by wrong : that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work !' Isa. x. 1-3, 'Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees. To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that the}^ may rob the fatherless ! And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far ? to whom will ye flee for help ? and where will ye leave your glory?' Micah ii. 1, 2, ' Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds ! when the morn- ing is light they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and take them by violence ; and houses, and take them away : so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.' Now by all these dreadful woes it is further evi- dent that this horrid sin of insolent oppression cannot be charged upon the called and chosen of God ; for where do you find in all the Scriptures the vessels of glory under those woes that are denounced against the ungodly ? But,